EastEnders execs defend Lola baby plot after social workers complain

EastEnders producers have defended the plot in which Lola Pearce’s baby is taken from her, following complaints over the soap’s portrayal of social workers.

Lola Pearce, played by Danielle Harold, has been involved in a dramatic EastEnders storyline involving baby Lexi (Picture: BBC)

Recent episodes have seen the teenage mum, played by actress Danielle Harold, lose baby Lexi after being arrested for assault, resulting in some dramatic scenes between her and stern social worker Trish.

However the British Association of Social Workers has reportedly complained to the BBC over the way the character has been portrayed in the storyline, as well as describing its depiction of social working procedures as ‘shabby’.

The Association’s acting chief executive Bridget Robb took to Twitter to make her views known, saying, ‘It is disgraceful to see a publicly funded broadcaster deliberately spreading misinformation about the child protection process because it is too lazy and arrogant to get it right.

‘We regularly give advice to programmes about social work storylines – we would like to know who advised EastEnders so badly.’

Another social worker complained to the corporation that the storyline had acted irresponsibly in not showing clear reasons for Lola’s baby being taken into care.

The corporation responded in a statement insisting they had no intention of portraying social workers in a ‘negative’ light.

The latest storylines have been criticised for the way social workers have been portrayed (Picture: BBC)

‘Whilst the audience has seen how much Lola loves Lexi, and seen her behaving responsibly in caring for her baby, her social worker has not. Each time the social worker visited, she regularly saw worrying behaviour that concerned her,’ the statement read.

‘There was no suggestion that the social worker’s actions arose from anything other than a genuine desire to protect Lexi, or that her concerns about Lola were unreasonable given the picture she and the previous social worker had formed over a substantial period of time.’

The teenage mum’s pregnancy storyline came to a head during the show’s live Olympics episode, which saw her giving birth as Billy Mitchell was carrying the torch around Walford.

Future storylines will see her attempting to regain custody of her child.